How we handled everything all the way through ... nominal operations to this unforeseen operation really bodes well for future exploration, Fincke said. So when we're getting ready for Artemis, I am very optimistic.
In the vacuum of space, the amount of debris-spent rocket stages, splintered satellites, micrometeoroids- numbers in the millions, all zooming about, often at 17,000 mph speeds. They're also constantly hitting each other in a tsuris of exponential littering. Most of these pieces are tiny, and many are not anywhere near the altitude of the ISS. But the area isn't completely clean.